This woman's Depression Era Garden is full of plants you've probably never heard of

Jack Sutton · CBC News

· Posted: Jul 07, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 7 hours ago

In a tiny London, Ont., neighbourhood garden, immoderate veggies from a bygone epoch are growing, and the pistillate who planted them hopes they tin marque a comeback to assistance with nutrient insecurity.

Nestled successful the centre of the Blackfriars Community Garden, Anne Marie Allen's crippled is marked with a ample motion that says, "Depression Era Garden."

Allen grew up connected a workplace northbound of the city, increasing and canning food. Now retired arsenic a minister, she started researching that crops were grown astatine a clip erstwhile galore Canadians went hungry.  

"A batch of radical deliberation the Depression started erstwhile the banal marketplace crashed, but it really started during the warfare with terrible nutrient shortages," she said.

During the First World War, shelves were bare arsenic overmuch of the nutrient went to the warfare effort, Allen explained. She learned many radical had to turn their ain nutrient to marque ends meet, but immoderate of the plants were not what you would find successful stores today.  

Leafy greens, similar Good-King-Henry, were common, according to Allen. It has a pugnacious texture, but tin beryllium harvested each wintertime long. 

Perennial basal vegetables similar world chestnuts and skirrets were besides popular, she said, and precise casual to preserve. The sweetness of skirrets, which has a starchy root, also made them a bully dainty erstwhile sweetener was hard to find. 

Allen planted each of these and more in her plot this past spring, and made small signs to explicate the imaginable uses for each one. When choosing what to plant, flavour was never a consideration, she said. In keeping with the Depression theme. The astir important happening was however agelong she could store them.

"This stores caller for 8 months," she said, showing disconnected a Danish Ballhead cabbage. "And it's 1 of the biggest cabbages to grow." 

Since these vegetables are truthful uncommon today, Allen ordered each the seeds from Small Island Seed Co. connected Vancouver Island, a tiny concern specializing successful rare, cold-hardy perennial crops. 

It's hard to explicate wherefore these crops person gone retired of style, said Richard Kuehnel, Small Island Seed's owner. Skirret, which is akin to a carrot but grows successful ample bunches, adjacent tastes a spot similar a marshmallow, helium said. 

"It's delicious and it's casual to grow. Once you've got it, it's really hard to kill."  

Skirret whitethorn person disappeared successful Canada due to the fact that it's not a precise profitable harvest erstwhile utilizing modern workplace equipment, Kuehnel said.  As the roots are made up of galore tiny tubers, it's hard to harvest and cleanable unless doing it by hand. 

With accusation readily disposable online, however, Kuehnel believes these old-time perennial crops are becoming much good known.

"I find that much radical are increasing these things than ever, and that's a truly chill happening to see."

As for Allen's garden, she's looking guardant to the extremity of summertime erstwhile she tin harvest her caller vegetables. She said she hasn't tried astir of them and it's excited to sensation the skirrets much than anything. 

For now, she'll support tending her small plot crippled and encouraging others successful the assemblage to bash the same. 

"I'm hoping that much radical volition go, 'That's interesting, I privation to effort that.'"